Debutante Kerry Schafer

Kerry Schafer was born and raised in Canada*, moved back and forth across the border a number of times, and finally settled on a compromise. She now lives in Washington state, but within an hour’s drive of her home and native land. Her childhood book collection traveled with her through all of those moves and she is still acquiring books and bookshelves. During her lifetime she has worked as a lumber piler, an OB nurse, a secretary, and a substitute teacher, among other things. No matter where she was living or what she was doing, she was creating writing time. Currently she balances writing and family with her work as a mental health counselor.

Vivian’s life is finally on track. She has a job she loves as an ER doctor and has just met – literally – the man of her dreams. But when her eccentric grandfather is murdered and designates her as his next of kin, she discovers that she is the last of a race of beings known as dreamshifters. It is her task to guard the doorways between waking and dreaming, which have already begun to unravel, spilling dangerous creatures from dream into the waking world. When she sets out to close the open doors and protect her town and the people she loves, Vivian confronts dragons, intrigue, and the dark secrets of her own family history. In the end, she comes face to face with a sorceress seeking eternal life and ultimate power. Vivian must find a way to stop her, or reality will be forever altered.

Debutante Dana Bate

Dana Bate graduated from Yale with a degree in molecular biophysics and biochemistry, then became a broadcast journalist with a specialization in finance and business, and then gave it all up to write romantic comedies.

Don’t worry: none of this makes sense to her parents either.

Her writing has appeared in outlets ranging from Smithsonian.com to Culinate, and before writing full time, she appeared as an on-air reporter and producer for the PBS Nightly Business Report. She recently returned to her roots in Philadelphia, where she lives with her husband.

Hannah Sugarman seems to have it all. She works for an influential think tank in Washington, DC, lives in a great apartment with her high-achieving boyfriend, and is poised for graduate school and an academic career just like her famous parents. The only problem is that Hannah doesn’t want any of it. What she wants is much simpler: to cook. When her relationship implodes, Hannah seizes the chance to do what she’s always loved and starts an underground supper club out of her new landlord’s town house — a secret venture that is both wildly successful and highly problematic, given that it is not, technically speaking, legal. On top of that, Hannah is faced with various romantic prospects that leave her guessing and confused, helicopter parents who aren’t fans of cooking as a career, and her own fears and doubts that threaten her dreams. A charming, accessible romantic comedy, The Girls’ Guide to Love and Supper Clubs is a story about finding yourself, fulfilling your dreams, and falling in love along the way.

Debutante Kelly Harms Wimmer

Kelly Harms Wimmer is the author of The Good Luck Girls of Shipwreck Lane, coming from Thomas Dunne in the summer of 2013. She has also worked with New York Times and USA Today bestselling authors, Edgar, RITA, and Agatha award winners, and Indie Next List Picks in her time as an editor at a division of HarperCollins and later as an agent at the Jane Rotrosen Agency. She lives in Madison, WI with her adorable and sometimes imperious toddler Griffin.

The Good Luck Girls of Shipwreck Lane is the story of two women with the same name, each of whom believes she is the rightful winner of a Dream Home Sweepstakes. For Nean, winning the house means an escape from a string of dead-end jobs and bad boyfriends. For Janey, it’s a chance to build a life outside of the shadow of her fiancé’s death. Both Janine Browns head for Christmas Cove, Maine to claim the house, and when their lives intersect, they discover that more than just a million-dollar dream home awaits them at water’s edge. Filled with wit and charm, The Good Luck Girls of Shipwreck Lane is an enchanting, heartfelt debut about the many ways love finds us, the power of a home-cooked meal, and what it really means to be lucky.

Debutante Susan Spann

Transactional publishing attorney Susan Spann lives in Northern California with her husband, teenage son, three cats, an aquarium full of seahorses, and one opinionated cockatiel. Claws of the Cat, the debut novel in her Shinobi Mystery series, will be published by Thomas Dunne Books in July 2013, with the next two Shinobi novels to follow in 2014 and 2015. When not writing or practicing law, Susan likes reading, horseback riding, martial arts, and World of Warcraft.

When a samurai is brutally murdered in a Kyoto teahouse, master ninja Hiro Hattori has just three days to find the killer before the dead man’s vengeful son executes both the beautiful geisha accused of the crime and Father Mateo, the Jesuit priest that Hiro has pledged his own life to protect. The investigation plunges Hiro and Father Mateo into the dangerous waters of Kyoto’s floating world, where they quickly learn that everyone from an elusive teahouse owner to the dead man’s dishonored brother has a motive to keep the samurai’s death a mystery.

Debutante Amy Sue Nathan

When Amy realized the only creative thing she was doing was adding frozen peas and carrots to boxed macaroni and cheese, she started writing again. Amy grew up in Philadelphia (Yo!) graduated with a Journalism degree from Temple University (Go Owls!), and lived in five cities around the country before settling in the suburbs of Chicago where she raised her kids, who are now in high school and college. The Glass Wives will be published by St. Martin’s Press in May 2013.

When a tragic accident ends the life of Richard Glass, it upends the lives of ex-wife, Evie, second wife, Nicole, and their children. Still, there’s no love lost between the ex and the new widow. In fact, Evie sees a silver lining in the heartache—the chance to move forward without Nicole in their lives, as soon as they finish sitting Shiva. But Evie wasn’t counting on her children’s bond with their baby brother, and she certainly wasn’t counting on Nicole hanging on to the threads of family, no matter how frayed. So, desperate times call for desperate measures.

Evie and Nicole, both emotionally and fiscally spent by Richard’s death, agree to share living expenses—and Evie’s house. The arrangement, purely financial in Evie’s mind, has its benefits, such as a live-in babysitter. But it also exposes a secret, causing a rift between Evie and her closest friends. Then when she discovers Nicole is rearranging more than her kitchen, Evie must decide whom she can trust. More importantly, Evie must decide what makes a family. And if two Glass wives are really stronger than one.

There you have it! You’ll be learning a whole lot more about each of these lovely ladies over the course of the coming year. But in the meantime, if you have any pressing questions that just can’t wait, feel free to ask in the comments. Or, you know, you can just say hi.

Yay to the new class of 2013!! We are so proud of you all and so excited for you, knowing you will have as much fun and joy and camaraderie as we of the class of 2012 have had this year. So turn on the music and cut the rug up, ladies! The year of your debut has begun!!!

I’m SO excited for you all! You’re going to do such a great job and will learn so much from each other! Let me officially congratulate the five of you and wish you all the very best for this year and beyond. Although if you’re looking for me, I won’t be far; I’ll be at the punchbowl, probably standing guard while Linda pours her flask of gin in.
xoxo

I am so excited . I’m a follower of Amy’s blog and am lucky enough to know Kelly personally through the local writers’ community here in our little corner of the Midwest. I cannot wait for their books to come out!

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